


Teach an old dog new tricks

by Literal_Multifandom_Trashcan



Series: zuko getting love and support [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gay Zuko (Avatar), Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Ozai's A+ Parenting, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:14:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24593641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Literal_Multifandom_Trashcan/pseuds/Literal_Multifandom_Trashcan
Summary: Zuko has to get used to sharing his feelings and emotions, and also erasing years of trained behavior that came from abuse.Sounds fun, right?
Series: zuko getting love and support [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774123
Comments: 17
Kudos: 548





	Teach an old dog new tricks

**Author's Note:**

> my boi zuko is getting sum premium family love and support

Zuko was well...confused, to say the least. 

Ever since their whole pow wow with Roku, everyone was being _nice_ to Zuko. I mean, they were nice before, but that was just politeness. Now he was being included in stuff, and people were asking for his _help_ and his opinion.

When Roku asked them to be his new family, Zuko didn't think he meant like _this._

Because this was not how families acted. Well, maybe it was how normal families acted. 

Whatever. Point is, Zuko was trying his hardest to get used to this new family of his, but it would be easier if one of them, like, yelled at him. Or tried to kill him. Regular family things, not this weird...being nice bullshit.

Of course, not only was Zuko trying to get used to how the gaang treated him, but also how they treated each other. To be fair, after growing up with Azula and Ozai, the basis of being nice was not killing each other. 

Some people said Zuko's expectations were too low. Those people had yet to learn Zuko's life motto. Low expectations, pleasantly surprised. 

And so far, no one had killed each other. So, safe to say, Zuko was pleasantly surprised. 

\---------------

Yawning, Zuko groaned. Sometimes he _hated_ rising with the sun, because the sun woke up too god damn early. 

Standing up from his meditation spot, Zuko made his way over to the fire pit for breakfast. Katara and Suki were trying to teach Sokka how to cook. (key word, trying.) Aang was trying to balance on one foot on his spinny air ball, and was kind of succeeding? And he just fell, nevermind. Toph was laughing at Aang _and_ Sokka, which was nothing new, to be honest. Hakoda was sitting on the ground, map rolled open in front of him.

Looking up from where he fell on the ground, Aang grinned and enthusiastically waved at Zuko, who hesitantly and awkwardly waved back. Great, now Toph was laughing at him too. Grumbling, Zuko took a seat next to Toph.

Katara and Suki managed to _somehow_ finish breakfast, even with Sokka's lack of knowledge of cooking. Seriously, even Zuko knew more than him, which was saying something, considering Zuko was the prince.

Shifting around in his spot, Zuko dug into breakfast. He didn't remember ever being this hungry in the past. Or maybe the food was just _that_ good. Zuko doubted it, though. Nothing could beat Uncle's cooking. Seriously, Uncle had missed his calling to become a chef or something. 

Zuko's mood fell a little bit at the thought of his Uncle. Iroh had been there to help Zuko at every step of the way, and Zuko just...betrayed him. For what? To go back to fake smiles and cold whispers behind his back? To go back to the man who had tried to kill him multiple times? 

Zuko knew Uncle was a forgiving man, but Zuko was pretty sure he was past the point of forgiveness. Zuko was a horrible son, a horrible nephew, a horrible brother, a horrible person all around. Sure, he was better now, but how did that saying go?

Too little too late.

Toph elbowed him, frowning. "You okay Sparky? You look depressed. Breakfast not royal enough for you?" Zuko just shook his head. "Just thinking."

Zuko knew Toph could tell he was lying. He was glad she didn't say anything about it though. Toph and Katara started talking about a joint training session, which Zuko thought was a good idea. It would keep Aang on his toes, train his reflexes as well as his bending. 

But then, they do something that almost makes Zuko's jaw drop to the ground. They turn to face him, and ask him what _he_ thinks of their suggestion. 

What the fuck? No, actually, what the fuck? The only other person to ask what he thinks of something was Uncle, and he did _not_ want to go down that train of thought again. Toph looked at Zuko with a knowing look, which made him blush and look away.

"I, um, I think it's a good idea, but Aang needs to work on the foundations for fire bending a little bit more." Katara and Toph nodded, turning back to their conversation. Zuko let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Was all conversation this awkward? Agni, he hoped not. Sokka turned to Zuko, which made Zuko tense up a little bit. "Hey, if you're gay why did you say you were dating Mai?"

Everyone turned to him for his answer, but Zuko still had a mouthful of food. Taking a second to chew and swallow, Zuko looked at Sokka to answer his question. "Mai is dating Ty Lee, the chi blocker contortionist girl. Since the Fire Nation executes gay people, we decided to act like we were dating each other so it wouldn't raise suspicion." Sokka nodded, turning back to shoveling food into his mouth.

Once everyone had finished up breakfast, Zuko gathered everyone's dishes, and they _thanked_ him for it. Why were they thanking him? He wasn't doing anything extraordinary. He was literally doing the bare minimum. These people allowed him into their group even after he hunted them halfway across the world, and they were thanking him for gathering the dishes? 

Huh.

Humming to himself, Zuko fell into the methodical repetition of washing dishes. He was aware that Katara or Aang could take care of them in seconds with waterbending, but it was comforting for him to go through the motions.

Everything was changing, but at least washing dishes was the same. 

As he was finishing up, Hakoda cleared his throat and raised his voice, calling a 'meeting'. Zuko flinched a little bit, and forced himself to take a deep breath in. It was just Hakoda, not Zhao or Ozai or Azula.

Suki definitely caught his flinch, if her concerned glance was anything to go by. 

They all sat in a semi circle, Hakoda sitting in front of them with the map open. Zuko was a little bit tense, last time he had sat in on a war meeting it hadn't exactly gone very well. Hakoda started telling them the plan, and Zuko tried his hardest to listen in on it.

"Alright, so from what I can tell, Aang still needs some work on mastering fire bending. Right now, this temple seems to be the safest place to stay, but we should be prepared. We could get attacked at any point in time. Here's what I was thinking. Toph, you can create an emergency escape passage using your earthbending. If we have it prepared beforehand, it could save us valuable seconds in an attack. Katara, you should gather up extra supplies in case we need to get out of here. Right now, the comet is coming soon. We still have time, but I have a feeling that's going to pass very quickly."

Katara glared at Hakoda. "I will not be the only one responsible for extra food supplies. The boys need to learn how to find herbs and extra food, so I think they should help me too." Zuko's breath caught in his throat, and he shut his eyes. 

Katara had made the same mistake he did, and she was going to get hit, she was going to get hurt, but Zuko couldn't get himself to _move_. Opening his eyes a little bit, Zuko saw Hakoda's mouth was open and he was about to talk, god Zuko hoped he didn't yell. Hitting was scary but hitting _and_ yelling was scarier. Zuko flinched as Hakoda started to speak and-

"That's a good point Katara. I'll put you in charge of teaching us, me included, about how to find food and gather extra supplies. Thanks for pointing it out. And Zuko, do you know of any places we could evacuate to if there was an attack?" 

This time around, Zuko's jaw _actually_ dropped open. He couldn't speak. He kept on trying to make sounds with his mouth, but he couldn't because _what the fuck_. Everyone was staring at him in concern or confusion, and Zuko felt like he was going to scream.

"I-what the _fuck._ " Hakoda scolded him with a quiet 'language' and even that freaked Zuko out because that sounded like something a _parent_ would do, and last time he checked his dad was an asshole and his mom was in hiding or dead.

"You didn't-Katara spoke against you and you, you didn't yell at her. Or hit her. And you guys have all been, _nice_? You've been asking for my opinion on things and _thanking_ me when I do things and, what the actual fuck is going on? You two" Zuko whirled around and pointed at Katara and Sokka. "argue, like all the time. But then you talk about it and become friends again. You don't even try to kill each other or anything!"

Zuko was on a rant, and he was not stopping now. Turning around again, Zuko pointed to Toph and Aang. "And you guys. When you're teaching Aang something and he gets it wrong, you don't hurt him or punish him or anything, you just tell him to try again. _What the fuck?_ "

It was silent for a few seconds, before Zuko felt someone latch onto him. Looking down, he saw Toph was hugging him, which just made him even more confused. Katara was crying, which made him feel a little bad, but also confused. Sokka was gaping, Suki had a frown on her face, and Hakoda looked angry.

Maybe he shouldn't have said anything?

Zuko felt his shirt getting wet, and with a start realized that Toph was _crying._ Zuko had never seen Toph cry at anything. Anything. Waving his hands around, Zuko felt a wave of panic rush over him.

"Um, I'm sorry? I didn't mean to make you cry, please don't cry. Do you wanna see this cool dragon trick I can do with my fire bending? Or um, I don't know, but please stop crying." Toph pulled away from Zuko, eyes puffy.

Slapping his chest, she glared at him. "Shut _up_ Sparky. You didn't do anything wrong. Now sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up while we explain some things to you." Zuko was so stunned into silence that he stumbled back onto the ground in a sitting position.

Hakoda had set the map aside to sit right in front of Zuko. Setting his hand on Zuko's shoulder, Hakoda looked Zuko right in the eyes, and he had to fight not to flinch. "I will _never_ hit you, or any of my kids. No child deserves to be hit."

Zuko tilted his head curiously. "But what if they were bad?" Hakoda firmly shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Hitting a child is never okay."

Hakoda could see that Zuko was still skeptical, and resolved to prove to him that he would never hit the kid. And also resolved to be a _good_ father figure, because Zuko was severely lacking in that department.

Scooting back, Hakoda gave the reign over to Sokka. "Me and Katara are siblings. And yeah, that means we get into arguments sometimes, but the thing is we love each other regardless. My love for her doesn't just go away over a small dispute. We, um, we love you Zuko. You're like a brother to us, which means we get to tease you and call you nicknames, but it also means that we'll _still_ love you, even if you argue or disagree with us."

Katara nodded in agreement. "Sokka might be a dumbass sometimes, but even then he's still my brother. You might be an asshole sometimes, but even then you're still my brother." Zuko hummed.

"That...makes sense, I think." Sokka grinned, glad they were getting through to Zuko. But of course, the group wasn't done yet.

It was Toph's turn now.

"Listen here, captain dumbass. We ask for your opinion because you are a _human being,_ and you have a right to tell people how you feel and what your thoughts are on certain matters. Also, you're kind of smart sometimes. _Don't_ let that get to your head."

Zuko wasn't planning to, but he had to admit the compliment from Toph _did_ make his heart warm up a bit. Toph didn't have to say a lot to get her point across. Zuko heard it loud and clear. The next person to talk was Suki.

"We thank you for doing things because it's polite, and every person deserves to be thanked for things. You take time out of your day and training to help us clean and cook and teach us new things. You deserve to be thanked, and I will literally thank you for everything until that gets through your thick skull."

Huh. So thanking people for small things _was_ a regular thing. Okay. Zuko didn't think he would ever get used to it, but that was fine. Finally, the last person to speak was Aang.

"You are one of the most amazing human beings i've ever met. I hope you know that I look up to you a lot, Zuko. You've managed to maintain a kind personality even when you feel conflicted within yourself. You go out of your way to help people. Most of all, you're an amazing leader. You want to help your people, your country, your nation. I think that's one of the most honorable things ever."

Zuko's jaw dropped again. That was not what he expected Aang to say. How did someone accept a compliment again?

"Thank you guys. This whole thing is still pretty weird and new to me, but you-you guys are helping me understand how this works, I guess. So thank you?" Zuko said bashfully, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

Toph rolled her eyes, punching him in the arm.

"Oww, why did you do that?"

"It's how I show affection, Sparky. Now let me show you guys this game the badger moles taught me..."


End file.
